After quickly developing a strong friendship with Sonya, Raskolnikov admits to committing the murders but struggles to admit why he murdered the old woman, reflecting his defining defect of remaining insecure about not being extraordinary. When Raskolnikov confesses, she demands to know Raskolnikov’s intentions because she believes that he could somehow justify an unfathomable crime. He responds quickly with “‘to rob her, of course’” followed by telling her to “‘stop it,’” showing he already feels uncomfortable with trying to explain his motivation for the murder (412). By using the phrase “of course,” Raskolnikov suggests no other acceptable excuse exists to explain why a man would rob an old pawnbroker. Unsatisfied by these answers, Sonya pushes for more explanation from him. Eventually, Raskolnikov suggests he wants to be an…show more content… With this explanation, Raskolnikov thinks he can satisfy Sonya’s thirst for the truth, thoughts he confirms by ending his long justification with “‘enough of that’” (416). By merely stating that he wants to be like Napoleon, he thinks he opens up enough to Sonya and feels like he can lie about what makes a man extraordinary. Raskolnikov’s statements to Sonya about the extraordinary man suggest he seeks a noble career through academia, but she senses the lies in these explanations and desires the full truth from him. For the first time, Raskolnikov admits the truth about why he killed Alyona when he confesses to “‘clearly’” knowing “‘[he] was not Napoleon’” because of his initial hesitation to murder but murdering anyway to discover “‘whether [he] was a louse like all the rest or a man’” (419). This admission reveals Raskolnikov knew he wasn't like Napoleon, who Raskolnikov described as an extraordinary man, but still killed the pawnbroker to discover definitively if he had extraordinary qualities. Through his own account of the
